Lost Doctor
by Nomis
Summary: Yep, I'm back! Hawkeye goes on a trip to the 8063rd to try and help a patient only to end up having to help himself... After two years this story is finally COMPLETE!
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: These characters are mine just as much as 99= 43. 

A/N: I've been sitting here for about five minutes trying to think of something to write. But all I can think of is trying to explain why I'm writing again. I guess the best way to explain it is like a disease. Writing for me is like a cure for some unknown disease. I love to write so much, and when I don't, my brain explodes with story ideas. So I'm gonna give it another shot here. Hopefully my stories won't be deleted by an undisclosed person, and hopefully you'll all enjoy this story as much as you did my previous ones. But as you all know, there's only one way to find out--- read and review! ThAnKs!! 

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**_Lost Doctor _**

"You know, there could be another way," Hawkeye's voice broke the crisp night air, and for what seemed like the hundredth time BJ was forced to turn from his almost sleeping position and answer him. 

"There may be," BJ's voice was slurred with the after effects of his and Hawkeye's many night caps, and from twenty-nine hours with no sleep, "But I'm sure it's something that could wait until tomorrow."

"Yeah," Hawkeye mumbled, thoughts still racing through his head.

He knew it would work, but he had to leave right away. It had been a gruesome eighteen hours of 'meatball surgery', and through the near hundred wounded that came through the 4077th, one person stayed in Hawkeye's mind. Private Fred Livings. He had come in, not looking bad at all-- but on closer inspection, they'd found shrapnel lodged all inside his right arm. They tried to get it all out, but found a particularly large piece had punctured a large artery. The piece of Korean war was stuck in him at just the right angle where the artery wasn't bleeding, and they knew that if they took it out they'd have to remove his arm. Cleaning the area as best as possible, they left the piece in, and agreed to think it out over night. And now, at nearly two in the morning, Hawkeye thought of an idea. He had read that the 8063rd had successfully done an operation for a similar case-- except it was with a leg. If he could get down there, and figure out how it was done, he could save Private Livings arm. 

"BJ, I figured it out," Hawkeye spoke again, "I'm going to go get help for Private Livings."

"Ok," BJ slurred, "But don't forget to turn the light out in the kitchen when you're done Peg."

Hawkeye paused a moment, shrugged and left the tent into the cool night. Forcing his feet to work with him, he managed to stumble to the office, where, expectantly, Radar was fast asleep, his teddy securely tucked in with him.

"Radar," Hawkeye said in a loud whisper, "Hey Radar, get up. I need you to phone the 8063rd."

"Mmmm?" Radar shifted slightly, but never woke.

"Get up," Hawkeye urged, looking for something to throw.

"I don't wanna clean the barn Mom, the goat attacked me last time," a sudden pained look came to Radar's face as he shifted around restlessly.

"What are with peoples dreams tonight," Hawkeye thought aloud, then got a sudden idea. Creeping slowly up to Radar he leaned down by his ear and rather loudly made a 'bahhhing' sound.

"NO!" Radar screamed as he sat upright, "Billy, don't do that, I don't wanna---"

"Hey!" Hawkeye grabbed him securely by the shoulders, "Shhh, Radar, it's only me."

"Who's me?" Radar questioned.

Hawkeye reached over to the small ledge by his cot and handed Radar his glasses, "Me, Hawkeye."

"Oh," A look of anger washed through his face, "What are you doing here at this hour?"

"I need you to get a hold of the 8063rd for me," Hawkeye explained.

"Awww geez, is that all," Radar laid back down, "Wait 'til morning."

"It can't Radar, it's, umm, a medical emergency," Hawkeye had said the magical words.

Five minutes later Radar was sleepily sitting at the desk trying to get a hold of the other Mash unit. Five minutes after that he gave up.

"I can't get a hold of them," Radar said apologetically, "Their radio is down. Do you want me to wake up the Colonel so he can help?"

"No," Hawkeye shook his head, "No, that's alright Radar. Go back to sleep."

"Ok," Radar yawned and fell back into his bed.

Closing the door behind him, Hawkeye left the office-- his mind racing of something that he could do. He took a look at his watch-- 2:47am. 

"I could probably get there and back with one of the jeeps before anyone even noticed," Hawkeye rationalized to himself, "Yeah. Then I can help Private Livings."

Quickly, he snuck back into the office, grabbed some keys for a jeep, and left. Before even he knew what was happening, he was in the jeep and heading down the dusty Korean roads to the Mash 8063rd.

The next morning came quickly to the 4077th, and when BJ woke up the first thing he noticed was the absence of Hawkeye. 

"Charles?" BJ looked over at his other sleeping room mate, "Hey Charles!"

Slowly Charles turned around, "What do you want?"

"Have you seen Hawkeye?" BJ's voice shone with apprehension.

"Have you tried the nurses tent?" Charles quipped.

Rolling his eyes BJ quickly sat up and slipped on his pants. Just as he was about to pull on his shirt and go out and look for his best friend, Radar came in-- absolutely hysterical.

"Is Hawkeye here?" he asked, "Please, you have to say Hawkeye is here!"

"No," BJ shook his head, "I was just about to go see around the camp. Why? What's going on Radar? What happened."

Radar's eyes were bug wide, "He came into the office really late last night asking me to get a hold of the 8063rd, saying it was a medical emergency. But the 8063rd's radio must be down or something because they didn't answer. I woke up this morning and one of the jeeps are gone!"

BJ paused, "Well, ok. That means that he's at the 8063rd. That's good-- at least we know where he is-- Colonel Potter's just going to bite his hide off."

"No," tears started to roll down Radar's face, "It gets worse!! I just got a call from I-Corps. The 8063rd got badly bombed really early this morning. At least twenty patients were killed, seven nurses and-" Radar took a deep, shaking breath, "and four doctors."

...........to be continued.............

A/N: Well, how'd you like it? I know I'm a bit rusty at writing my Mash stories, so I hope this is good. Well, you've read, now review!! (wondering how many of you missed _that_! :o) ) ThAnKs!! 


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Not this time--- maybe next chapter....

A/N: Oh- my- goodness!! I cannot believe I got 13 reviews for that chapter!!! That's crazy! I went away for a few days, came back and there was thirteen reviews!! Thank you guys SOOO much!! I seriously only expected maybe 2 or 3, but 13! Err-- sorry, :o) Thank you guys a lot, and keep it up! Read and review! ThAnKs!!

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"Colonel, we _have_ to go down there!" BJ shouted loudly over the suddenly busy Mash.

"We can't," Colonel Potter turned his head towards BJ quickly before turning his attention back to Radar, "And I need _you_ to get I-Corps on the phone pronto! I need names of these casualties. Names damn it!"

"Then I'll go myself," BJ fumed, "Radar give me some keys to a jeep."

"Err-" Radar looked around hesitantly.

"Radar! Phone, now!" Colonel Potter snapped.

"Yes Sir," Radar quickly ran to the small radio at the desk as BJ quickly moved in to find some keys for himself.

"And Captain if you even _think_ about taking a jeep and going on a wild goose chase to the 8063rd I'll have your keister busted down to Private before you can count to three!!" Colonel Potter shot out as he hovered over Radar.

BJ stopped in mid-motion, a mixture of anger, worry and apprehension plastered on his face. It was at that time that Charles walked into the room, his eyes wide.

"What's going on?" he asked, "One of the nurses went by in tears crying that Hawkeye was killed."

BJ quickly turned around, "What?! Hawkeye was _not_ killed! He's alive damn it, and I'm going to find him!"

With that BJ bolted out of the room, and Colonel Potter quickly turned from his in-depth phone call and shouted, "Someone stop him!! The last thing we need is two doctors missing!"

Charles quickly left the tent in pursuit of his roommate. He caught up with him directly outside of the nurses shower, and grabbed him by the shoulders to stop his rampage.

"Would you stop," Charles panted, struggling to keep breath.

"No," BJ turned towards the quickly balding doctor, "I need to find him. I need to find Hawkeye."

"You can't just run off there!" Charles attempted to bring some rationalization into the situation, "Now what the hell happened?!"

BJ paused a moment as if struggling to comprehend the question, then spoke very slowly and calmly as if suddenly in a daze, "There was bombing at the 8063rd. Lots- lots of people were killed. Including four doctors. Hawkeye was there."

BJ's wide eyes stared up at Charles like a small child asking for help that couldn't be given. Charles was quiet as he stood there, absorbing the information. He opened his mouth to speak when suddenly another voice shrilled out.

"What are you guys talking about!?" Margaret appeared out from the showers.

Charles looked at BJ to explain it, but he remained standing there silent; lost in his own world where 'war' was a thing you read in books with knights and dragons, and death only happened to those who were old, and lived a long, happy life.

"There was some bombing at the 8063rd," Charles spoke to Margaret, but continued to look at BJ, hoping that he'd jump in and say it was all a joke, "It's believed that Captain Pierce was there, and-" Charles paused, giving a long, hard look to BJ before he continued, "and four doctors were said to have been killed."

Margaret would have fallen to the ground if Charles hadn't moved quickly to support her on her feet.

"What?" Margaret suddenly turned very pale, "No, no. Hawkeye wouldn't die just like that!"

"Margaret calm down," Charles forced his own voice to be calm, "I'm sure he wasn't even there. Radar said that it was past two when he came into the tent trying to get a hold of them, and the bombings happened this morning."

This didn't seem to calm down Margaret at all as she started to shake and mumble things about 'damn war' and 'why'd he go'.

_'Would Captain Hunnicut and Major's Houlihan and Winchester report to the office immediately.'_

The sudden announcement made Charles jump as suddenly both BJ and Margaret found their legs and started to quickly head towards the office-- forcing Charles to yet again run to catch up. It only took a moment to get to the office, but all three somehow knew what it was about. Colonel Potter had the names. When they entered the office, the scene was something BJ, Margaret and Charles knew they never wanted to see again. Radar was sitting on his cot, getting sick into an old waste basket as Colonel Potter sat in his chair, looking very pale and old as he stared down at a piece of paper in his hand.

"The names?" BJ's voice cracked out.

Colonel Potter silently nodded his head as he handed the paper to BJ.

...........to be continued.............

A/N: There's that chapter! I hope it was good. I'm really trying to make my stories brilliant, and I hope you're enjoying this one as much as I'm enjoying writting it! Well, lemme know what you think of it-- the good, bad or ugly! You've read, now review! ThAnKs!! 


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: This story is as much mine as much as I hate writing.

A/N: Wow. Ok, 'wow' doesn't even cover it. _**WOW!**_-- that's more like it! I got 12 reviews for that last chapter!! Man, I used not even be able to get you guys to give me 5 reviews when I was bribbing you! --not complaining! :o) Anyways, I really am enjoying writing this story, and I have a feeling your going to 'hate' me even more at the end of this chapter... gives evil grin Well, you know the drill! Read and review!! ThAnKs!!

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Eyes wide, BJ read through the list scrawled harshly in Colonel Potters writing;

_Patients:  
Private Luis Kirk  
Private Zachary Huston  
Private Ernie Webbings  
Private Daniel Cross  
Private Maxwell Polar  
Private Vincent Leslie  
Corporal James Lark  
Corporal Alexander Star  
Corporal Justin Able  
Colonel Dustin Pine_

Nurses:  
Mary Freeman  
Sara Perch  
Laura Love  
Gabrielle Ginning

Doctors:  
Capitan Ronald Johnston  
Capitan Joseph Roots  
Capitan Benjamin Pierce  
Major Richard Deeds 

BJ read through the names of the doctors again; hoping, praying that he was reading the third name incorrectly. A strangled gasp of 'No!' from Margaret behind him showed that, in fact, the third name on the list was that of Benjamin Franklin Pierce, Hawkeye, BJ's best friend. Slowly BJ looked up at Colonel Potter, who, for the first time, looked just as helpless as the rest of them.

"B-But," something suddenly occurred to BJ, "They said before that there was twenty patients wounded-- there's only ten names there. That means, maybe they made a mistake."

Colonel Potter shook his head sadly, "I'm sorry son. Those- those are the confirmed names-- the ones that they have the dog tags for. There's still more wounded. They've asked us to send up some people to help. If none of you feel wanting to go, I'll understand, I can just tell them--"

"I'll go," Margaret, Charles and BJ suddenly said all at the same time.

Colonel Potter looked at them stunned for a moment-- the last thing he had expected was for them all to volunteer for this.

Taking a deep breath, he thought about it for a moment, "BJ and Margaret go. Charles, I need you to stay here with me in case we get anymore wounded."

"Alright," Charles nodded and left the tent.

"Ok," Colonel Potter looked at the eager BJ and Margaret, "I want you two to report to me as soon as you get to the 8063rd-- understand?"

"But--" Margaret began to protest.

"But nothing," Colonel Potter sternly interrupted, "There is still a war on Major. Now I want you to report-- understand?"

"Yes Sir," Margaret nodded.

"Good," Colonel Potter then glanced towards the still very pale BJ, "And I'd like you to drive too Margaret. BJ doesn't quite look up to the job."

Surprisingly BJ didn't object to this and Margaret silently nodded and took the keys to one of the jeeps. A half hour later her and BJ were on the same road Hawkeye had been on only hours earlier…

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It was very bright, and as he looked around, he felt a sense of calm run over him. Blood was on his face and dripped all the way down to his hands-- where he clutched tightly a small stuffed teddy bear, and yet he felt no pain. Finally, a person came into view in the distant brightness.

"Hello?" he called out hesitantly. 

"Hello Hawkeye," the voice was familiar, and suddenly the man was jolted to reality.

"Oh my God," Hawkeye stumbled, "What- what are you doing here? Where am I? What happened?" he paused for a moment, "Damn it tell me!"

There was a soft chuckle as the other man came closer, "Just calm down there Hawk. Everything will be ok."

"What happened?" Hawkeye asked again-- this time, his voice etched with fear.

"You were heading towards the 8063rd to get some information for a patient at your camp," the man explained, "You never made it though. Just outside of the 8063rd the shells started to drop, and you spotted a young girl lying at the side of the road--"

"Ty-Ling," Hawkeye whispered, remembering.

The man nodded, "She gave you her teddy and started to speak to you, but you couldn't understand. Only her name. As you tried to help her, more shells dropped. You tried to carry her to a nearby shelter, but just as you entered it another shell dropped-- right on top of the home."

Hawkeye's voice cracked as he spoke, "I remember. She- she couldn't have been older than five."

"Four and a half," the man supplied.

Hawkeye gave a small chuckle, "I remember she was really fascinated by my dog tags that hung down, and I-I took them off for her to see while I looked her over," Hawkeye closed his eyes tight in a feeble attempt to stop the tears from coming down his face, "I shouldn't have taken her to the shack. She would have made it…."

"No," the other man was in front of Hawkeye now, "She wasn't going to make it Hawkeye, and their was nothing you or anyone could have done. Her family had been hit hard by a shell just up the road, and Ty-Ling had managed to crawl away. You made her last few minutes happy ones."

Hawkeye looked up, and stumbled back at who he saw, "H-Henry…"

The former Mash commander grinned, his floppy fisherman hat and vest on him, "It's ok Hawkeye."

A sudden jolt of fear rushed through Hawkeye as he choked out the barely audible words, "Does-does this mean I'm…. that I'm dead?"

A sad look came to Henry's face before he answered...

...........to be continued.............

A/N: How was that?? Are ya all interesting in the story now? How are you liking it? I hope you are liking it, and any and all critisim is welcome! I got marshmellows ready for flames, my word processor for constructive, and a tissure for really good reviews! :o) So, my loyal readers, you've read, now review!! ThAnKs!! 


	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: You'd think after all these stories the characters would be mine.... but not yet. Tune in next week though for Nomis' feeble attempt at gaining control of all Mash characters... _Muahahahaha!_

A/N: This is the most incredible thing ever! I got thirteen reviews for chapter three and I'm on cloud nine! Keep it up! :o). Anyways, I wanted to apologize for the delay on this chapter. I was trying my hardest to word certain parts of it just right--- which proved to be a more difficult task than I would have imagined. I hope you all enjoy it, but as ya all know, there's only _one_ way to find out.... read and review! ThAnKs!!

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"I don't know," Henry finally said.

"Don't know?" Hawkeye did a double take, "_Don't know!?_ What do you mean you don't know? You're supposed to--"

"Hawkeye!" again Henry had to interrupt his friend, "Just please-- listen to me. This is important."

Hawkeye stared, wide-eyed at Henry; the man that seemed to be just yesterday commanding his Mash unit.

"I don't know if you're dead," Henry went on, "Only you do."

Hawkeye continued to look at him blankly-- as if expecting more.

After a moment, he finally met Henry's silence with a question, "Ok, I give up. What the hell do you mean?"

"I mean," Henry said, "If you want to, well, die, than just say it, and you will. But if you want to live, you can."

Hawkeye laughed, "Well that's simple, I want to live," he looked around, and then shouted, "Hear that!! I want to live!!"

"It's not quite _that_ simple," Henry shook his head, "You have to find a reason you want to live. Sometimes, there's more pros to just ending it all while you have the chance then going on."

"Are you nuts?!" Hawkeye cried, "I have plenty of reasons I want to live! There-there's BJ, Colonel Potter, Margaret, Charles, all my patients, and--" Hawkeye paused for a moment before sighing and adding, "and Dad."

"What about the not so good things," Henry questioned, "How about the war that you're in the middle of? How about all of the young, innocent children that come through the camp that die for no other reason then they were unfortunate enough to be brought into this world? What about--"

"I don't get it," Hawkeye suddenly got serious as he looked Henry in the eyes, "You _want_ me die? You want me to be killed in some-some _stupid_ 'police action'?!?"

Henry shook his head calmly, "No. I just want you to think about all of this. Not to mention the question of your state of health if you _do_ decide to live. You have a lot to think about Hawk. And you have to decide before someone finds you--- or else you'll have no choice and will die."

Hawkeye paused as he looked down at the teddy bear still clutched in his hand. Henry was right. He did have a lot to think about.

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Margaret steered the jeep along the dusty, swerving Korean roads. She was scared. More scared than she could ever remember being. Scared of what they'd find at the 8063rd, scared that Hawkeye was dead, scared from the war. But most of all, she was scared from BJ. She had never seen him this way before-- so quiet, still and-- blank. It was as if when he read the letter, he'd read his own name on there. And it scared her more than she cared to think.

"BJ," she finally spoke, temporarily taking her eyes off the road.

BJ looked over at the Major, but remained silent.

Margaret took a deep breath, "Don't worry. I'm sure there was some sort of mistake. I mean, we both know Hawkeye-- this is probably his idea of a joke!"

BJ cracked a smile, and said, in a small whisper, "Yeah."

Margaret smiled.

"Thanks," BJ said.

Wordlessly Margaret forced a large grin on her face as she continued down the road. It took just over an hour and a half to get to the other Mash unit-- not that you could much tell it was one. Over half the tents had been levelled, and there seemed to be more wounded than not. As soon as Margaret stopped the jeep, a man came running over.

"Hi," he said breathlessly, "I'm Major Dream. Are you two the ones from the 4077th?"

"Yes," Margaret nodded, "I'm Major Margaret Houlihan, and this is Captain BJ Hunnicut."

"Hi," Major Dream nodded, "We seem to have everything going pretty good inside the camp, but we could really use some doctors and nurses outside of here-- checking for civilian casualties and any other wounded that may have been injured in the bombing."

"Alright," Margaret nodded, "I just need to contact Colonel Potter and let him know we got here ok."

"Ok," Major Dream said, the pointed to one of the few tents that was still up, "Use our office phone-- that way our Corporal can tell you were to go."

Margaret nodded, and ran off.

"So," Major Dream looked at BJ, "What made you guys decide to come down here and help out in the search. We made it clear that it was just volunteering."

BJ stared blankly at the man for a moment before saying in a stoned voice, "My best friend was killed here this morning."

"Oh," Major Dream shifted his weight uncomfortably, "I'm-I'm sorry."

BJ continued to stare at him, but remained quiet. The uncomfortable silence continued until Margaret came running back.

"Ok," she said breathlessly, "I told Colonel Potter that we made it here ok, and their Corporal told me where it is we're needed."

"Where?" inquired BJ as they started up the jeep and started to drive off as Major Dream left to help some new people who pulled into the camp.

"Along a road on the north side of the camp," Margaret explained, "There's quite a few huts there, and it was bombed pretty severely."

"Has anyone else been up there yet?" asked BJ as they bumped along the road, dodging the fallen tents, and tumbled trees and huts.

"Yes," Margaret pulled the jeep to a stop just outside of the camp and went around to the back to grab her bag; BJ doing the same, "There's a few people here already. According to Corporal Mandarin back at the office they've already found a family in the middle of the road that had been directly hit and killed. They're worried that there may be more around here."

BJ nodded, and they began to walk down the road, searching through the debris. It didn't take long until two other soldiers came into view looking through a particularly large pile of rubble that Margaret assumed used to be a home of some sort. She and BJ thought nothing of it until a loud cry came from one of them.

"Hurry!" he shouted, "Come quick! There's an officer here! Along with a small Korean girl."

Numb with fear, BJ and Margaret ran towards them.

"He's dead," one the people said just as BJ managed to get there, and the soldiers voice softened, "Both of them. Dead."

His heart pounding, BJ pushed past, and looked down into the pile of rubble…

...........to be continued.............

A/N: How was that?? What it too confusing? I hope not. :o) If any of ya have any questions, complaints, or compliments, just review and let me know! I am totally enjoying writing this story, and couldn't do it without all of you guys! **Thank you all**!! You've read, now review! ThAnKs!! 


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: These people belong to me about as much as I update quickly frowns

A/N: Wow. Umm... ok, ok, lemme try and justify myself a little before ya all yell at me for taking so long (I don't even dare to look _exactly_ how long). For one, my computer decided to take a many month spaz break and didn't work. Second of all, my _brain_ decided to take a many month spaz break as I could think of _nothing_ to write in this story. As it is, this chapter is very short. But hopefully will tide you over until I have the time to write another-- much longer chapter. I'd like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for giving me _**fourteen**_ reviews for my chapter four! All together for my four chapters, I have fifty-two reviews which is beyond amazing because I set my bar low this time review wise, and I get a lot. Yay! Umm... sorry. Read and review! ThAnKs!

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"It's not him," BJ sighed and felt his knees go weak beneath him, as he looked back at Margaret, his eyes wide, "It's not him."

Margaret's breathing quickened as she learned in to investigate for herself if it was in fact another person. There was no doubt it was-- the blonde hair and slight moustache gave that away right away. She looked over and saw BJ hunched over on the ground away from the mess of it all.

"Hey," Margaret spoke as she walked over and put a hand on his back , "It's ok, it's not him. It'll all be ok. You'll see."

BJ shook his head, "No. The list-- they found his dog tags."

"So what?" Margaret's voice suddenly turned very stern, "Since when were you one to listen to 'Army Papers'?"

BJ glared at Margaret and spoke quietly before walking away, "Since it involved my best friend being on a death list."

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Hawkeye sat cross-legged in the white oblivion looking down at the small, black pearl eyes of the teddy bear.

"She didn't have a choice," Hawkeye spoke quietly after a moment as looked up at Henry, "Why the hell do I have to choose but she didn't!"

Henry looked down at his friend, "Hawk, think about it. She wasn't even four and her whole family had already been killed. To live would have been more cruel than death itself for her."

Hawkeye silently nodded.

It was a long while before he spoke again, and the word spoke for itself, "Mom."

Henry smiled, "She died when you were small didn't she?"

"Yeah," Hawkeye's voice cracked, "When I was ten years old. Cancer. Dad didn't even tell me that she had it until a week before she died."

"There's a fact right there that you have to consider," Henry nodded, "You could be with her."

"Yeah," Hawkeye paused, "But then Dad would be all by himself."

Henry's voice suddenly went down a few notches as he spoke, "But for how long?"

Hawkeye jumped to his feet, his eyes wide, "What the hell do you mean by that! Is Dad going to die? What's wrong with him? He didn't tell me anything was wrong! He--"

"Hey!" Henry put his hands on Hawkeye's shoulders to calm him down, "Easy Hawk. Nothing is wrong with your Dad. He's just getting old. Nobody lives forever-- you being a doctor should know that best of all."

Hawkeye sighed, "I know that Henry. But _you_ being a doctor should know the urge to want to keep people alive and to help them."

"I don't want to make you think one thing or another Hawk," Henry hesitated as he looked directly into his eyes, "Are you sure you want to go back to a world of hate, death and hurt?"

Hawkeye stared a moment at Henry curious, when suddenly a question popped into his own head, "Did you have a choice Henry?"

Henry opened his mouth hesitantly to reply…

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"Sir! Sir!" Radar rushed into Colonel Potter's office, his face flush and looking pale.

"Whoaa!" Colonel Potter cried out as Radar nearly ploughed down Colonel Potter's painting he was working on, "Calm down Son. What's going on?"

Radar, only slightly caught off guard by the unusualness of the Colonel painting at such a stressful time, moved around the painting and gave a piece of paper to Colonel Potter, "We just got this message from I-Corps Sir."

Colonel Potter read the few lines of the paper through, and then could only stare at it as his face became pale.

...to be continued...

A/N: It's a short chapter, I know. And I apologize greatly for it, but I really hope that this chapter is good, and that you enjoy it. I also have a rad idea of what's going to happen next, so I promise you won't have to wait long for the next chapter. Lemme know what you think, anything is welcome-- even flames... go for it! You've read, now review! ThAnKs! 


	6. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: These charachters and such-n-such are not mine as much as Hawkeye has a second cousin named Ed (ha! bet I made ya look that one up!)

A/N: Hey everyone! Want a person to thank for me putting up this chapter? Sure; thank 'Hawk's Soul' and their review. I was just randomly looking through my stuff I have on the internet, and found that I had a new review. So I read it, and got reemed out by Hawk's Soul for not writing a new chapter nore telling people that I wasn't going to continue. C'mon people, why wouldn't I want to continue a great story like this? So immediately I sat down and started writing. And here we are; a brand new chapter (that, I might add, is a heck of a lot longer than any of my other ones), that you can all enjoy thanks to Hawk's Soul. See what reviewing can do! So, my dear, avid friends and readers, please, read and review, and you'll never know what will happen next... read and review! ThAnKs!

_--------_

"Me?" Henry looked at Hawkeye for a long moment.

"Yes," Hawkeye furrowed his brow, "Did you have a choice if you wanted to live or die?"

It was another long minute before Henry finally opened his mouth and replied, "Yes. I did have a choice."

"And you chose to die!" anger suddenly burst through Hawkeye's voice, "How could you do that to everyone? How could you do that to your wife? To your _kids_ Henry! To Radar. You know he never really did get over you dying like that? How could--"

"Shut-up Hawk," Henry sighed as if he'd heard the rant a million times over, "Do you honestly think it was easy? Do you think that I didn't think about all of those things, _and more_!"

"Then why?" Hawkeye still clutched the soft teddy bear in his hand.

Henry's voice caught in his throat, "My son."

"Andrew?" Hawkeye remembered the small boy that was born back in Illinois just after the war had started..

A tear fell down Henry's face as he nodded, "Yeah. Little Andy. He-he died."

"Henry…" Hawkeye's eyes were wide, "I didn't know…"

Henry shook his head and took a deep breath, "I didn't want you to know. Or anyone at the 4077th. That- that was why I was going back to the states. Not because I got my papers…. Because…" Henry bit his lower lip to keep himself calm.

"How?" Hawkeye shook his head, confused, "When? You should have told us Henry! We would have helped."

"How could you help?" Henry asked, "There was nothing anyone could do. Lorraine just woke up one morning to feed him and-- and he was gone. It happened about a week before I left."

Hawkeye stared blankly at Henry, a mixture of emotions running through him; deep sadness for Henry's loss, confusion on why some children die so suddenly for no reason and anger at Henry for not telling them.

"Why did you choose to die?" Hawkeye whispered.

"My son needed a Daddy," Henry feebly attempted to wipe the tears from his face as he started at Hawkeye.

_--------_

"What's going on?" Charles asked as he stood in front of Colonel Potter's desk; only moments before being called in urgently.

"There's expected to be more heavy bombing out by the 8063rd," Colonel Potter spoke at a fast clip, "Their whole camp is being moved twenty miles up the road."

"Hunnicut and Houlihan," the words immediately came to Charles' mouth.

"They're not sure where they are," Colonel Potter shook his head, "They were sent out into the surrounding areas to check on the villagers."

"Blast it!" Charles fumed, "Why would they just send people out? Don't they know it's a war?"

Colonel Potter remained silent for a minute before replying, "I talked to I-Corp not too long ago as well. This shelling is going to be brining in a large amount of wounded in about five hours. I want someone to go and see if they can round up Margaret and BJ, as their camp is more concern right now with gathering all of their wounded and moving them to their new camp. But I don't want to send you or go myself because of our own wounded."

"Why not--" Charles didn't even get a chance to finish his sentence.

Fore walking into the room was none other than Klinger in a bright orange spaghetti strap evening gown; complete with small sequins and sparkling, dangling earrings.

"Kind sir, I would like directions to the new ball in town please--" Klinger said in as delicate of a voice that he could muster.

"Klinger!" Colonel Potter had barely noticed his attempt at insanity, "Just the person we need."

"I need an escort, but aren't you a little old…" Klinger started, raising an eyebrow.

"_Klinger!_" Colonel Potter bellowed.

"Err--- yes sir?" Klinger swallowed hard.

"I want you in _regular_ cloths and back in my office quicker than I can say demoted or you aren't going anywhere for a very long time!" Colonel Potter shouted.

Klinger spun on the heel of his bright red high-tops to face his commanding officer, saluting him; his earrings dangling, "Yes sir!"

He marched clumsily out of the room.

"I swear that boy is going to cause everyone around him to get a Section 8," Colonel Potter muttered.

Charles and Colonel Potter knew even before they could feel it that something had happened. They didn't even have to look at each other to know something terribly wrong had just gone on outside. Fore even inside their secluded office, the screams of horror from the people outside in the camp echoed into their ears.

_--------_

Margaret ran to catch up with BJ, "BJ! Stop! BJ! _Captain Hunnicut_!"

BJ stopped in his tracks, breathing hard. Margaret ran to in front of him.

"What is the matter with you!" she cried out.

"How can you do it?" BJ panted, "How can you just go from this dead person to the next without thinking about who it is, or who it could have been."

"Let me tell you this buster, it's not as easy as that," Margaret said, anger etched in her voice at the ignorance BJ held, "Don't you think that I'm scared that every body we turn over will be Pierce's? Don't you think that I'm scared that every time a plain goes by we're all going to die?" tears were now coming down the Major's face, "Don't you think that-that--- that I'm scared…"

Silently BJ pulled her into a hug. The two stayed together like that for a long moment while Margaret cried into BJ's strong chest.

Finally she moved away, "I have an idea. That might help."

"Humm?" BJ mumbled, fearing to speak for he was sure his voice would just come out in a squeaky mess at that point.

Margaret took a deep, shaking breath, "Lets go down to the camp. Find-- find where they put Hawkeye. Say good-bye. Then we won't play these games with ourselves that maybe he's really alive somewhere."

BJ nodded, "Ok.

It didn't take long to get back to the camp, and it took an even shorter time to find Major Dream as over half the camp was gone at this point along with pretty much all of the wounded.

"What's going on?" BJ asked.

"We're bugging out," Major Dream replied, "Bombings are getting closer again, so we're moving out about twenty up the road. Did you guys need something?"

"Umm yes," Margaret stepped forward, "We heard that a Captain Pierce was-- was listed as one of the casualties that were killed. We were wondering if we could see where he was."

Major Dream looked down at the clipboard in his hand before looking up, "Come with me."

Both Margaret and BJ looked at each other a moment and followed the Major, surprisingly not to the aid tent or the surgical tent, but to his office. Once in, they saw a number of boxes stacked around.

"I'm sorry for the mess," Major Dream spoke, "Our storage tent was levelled, so we're using pretty much any room to store things around here."

"That's ok," Margaret whispered.

Major Dream began looking through all of the boxes, and soon pulled out one from near the bottom. Opening it up, both BJ and Margaret strained to see inside, but were surprised to seemingly see nothing. However there was one thing inside as Major Dream reached his hand in, and pulled out the silver, shinny dog tags that read 'Captain, Benjamin Pierce MD'.

"What is that?" Margaret asked; knowing full right what it was.

"It's all we have," Major Dream began to explain, "Captain Pierce along with two other that were in the deceased list we only found the dog tags of. Pierce's ones were found just off the road near a pile of rubble and near a little girl that was dead."

"S-so, there's no-no body?" Margaret's heart was pounding as she forced herself to spit out the sentence.

"No," Dream shook his head, "There isn't."

"Where were the dog tags found?" BJ asked.

"I, we--" Major Dream was startled by the sudden energy of the two people in front of him.

"_Where?_" BJ shouted, "Damn it, it's not a hard question!"

Major Dream looked back down at his clipboard, "About a mile up the north road."

"Come on," BJ looked at Margaret and headed towards the door.

"Wait!" Major Dream called out, and the two stopped, "You guys can't go back out there. Don't you remember what I just finished telling you? This place is going to be in even more ruins soon. You need to leave."

"I am not going to wait around, and sit on my hands until some poor solider drags in my best friends dead body through the doors of a Mash unit," BJ said, dangerously quiet, "I am going to go and find him."

"What do I tell your commanding officer?" Dream asked.

BJ didn't have to think about this for even a second, "Tell him I've gone to bring Hawkeye back."

...to be continued...

A/N: Want to know something funny? At the end of the last chapter I wrote that I knew what was going to happen next excetra, excetra. I'm pretty sure I did at that time, but I completely forgot. So this whole chapter was very spontaneous, and I wrote it all up on the spot, not quite sure what was going to happen next. And I have no idea what is going to happen in the next chapter either. Maybe that will keep me writing it quicker; because I'm like you and want to know what's going to happen! Anways, did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Want to kill me because of it? Lemme know! You've read, now review! ThAnKs!


	7. Chapter Seven

_Disclaimer: Haha! Yeah right... if I owned these guys, people would kill me because of how long I take to update... _

_A/N: Aww... did you guys miss me? Haha-- ok, ok. I'm sorry. I got into writing another fanfiction. It's on a different name because I don't like to mix up genre's. Stupid reason I know, but because of that I've (sniff, sniff), neglected this story. But fear not, I have put up an awesome chapter for you all. And by the looks of it, there may only be one, **possibly** two more chapters left! Ok, so I'll shut-up so that you can read on. Read and review! ThAnKs! _

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"Charles?" Colonel Potter asked.

"The mess tent," Klinger stated, "He's treating people there."

"And the OR?" Colonel Potter knew the answer; he'd asked it twice in the last hour-- though he needed to hear it again.

"Levelled," Klinger stated solemnly.

"How many are gone?" Colonel Potter had been stalling on asking this question, but finally found it necessary.

"Four," Klinger took a deep breath, "All patients that were caught directly underneath the roof. It's not as bad as it could have been."

A loud, rumbling sound echoed not far away. A grim reminder that they were in the middle of a war that was creeping closer and closer to them. Colonel Potter had gone through two world wars. He had seen men die in front of him, and bombs drop from the sky. But one thing he would never get used to was the idea that someone was behind the destruction. Someone was trying to kill these people. A Mash unit. Where lives were supposed to be saved, not taken.

"Take another look around," Colonel Potter instructed, "Make sure there's no one else that's injured and that everyone is ok. Try to get another OR tent set up by eighteen hundred hour, and I'd still like for you to get a hold of someone to see if this damned shelling is going to stick around for an encore."

"Yes Sir," Klinger walked out of the room; leaving Colonel Potter to himself.

What he wouldn't do to be back home in the states with his wife eating fresh corn on the cob. Potter had been dreaming of that day for a long time, and it was times like this that made him scared that they'd never come.

"And the fact that we're down two surgeons and a head nurse doesn't help," Colonel Potter fumed, "Margaret and BJ better get their asses out of there before I come and drag them away."

He had no sooner uttered the words than he heard the door slam open. Expecting it to be Klinger, Colonel Potter turned around; ready to tell him to get back to work. Instead he was greeted with the familiar face of Margaret.

"Houlihan!" Colonel Potter cried out; his eyes wide, "You're back!"

"Yes Sir," Margaret spoke, clearly out of breath.

"What's happening? Where's BJ?" the Colonel asked, spotting the lack of another officer.

"He's still out there," Margaret furrowed her brows in her own worry, "He wouldn't come back."

"What in Sam Hell are you talking about he wouldn't come back?" Colonel Potter burst, "Where is he?"

"He's still searching," Margaret tried to explain without her emotions flowing over, "We found out that they only found Hawkeye's dog-tags; not his body. BJ refused come back. Even after we found out the 8063rd is moving out."

"They're _what_?" Colonel Potter's voice was raising with every syllable he spoke.

"Moving out Sir," Margaret confirmed, "The bombing is getting too bad. I heard what happened here, and decided to come back. BJ promised he'd get a hold of us or come back by twenty-hundred hour."

Colonel Potter took off his hat and ran his hand through his grey hair, "Alright. Wounded aren't expected here until later on. If that blasted doctor is not back here by then, _you_," he gave a quick, vicious glare to Margaret, "Are going to be in charge of bringing him back. Understand?"

"Yes Sir," Margaret spoke quietly, "What can I do to help until then?"

"Charles is in the mess tent with casualties, scrub up and go help him," Colonel Potter instructed.

Margaret nodded and started to head out of the room.

"Major," Colonel Potter quickly spoke and the blond haired nurse turned around, "They'll be ok. Both of them."

…

"You're running out of time," Henry spoke urgently, "Damn it Hawkeye, you can't just keep questioning me the whole time."

"Well this wasn't exactly what I was planning on doing today," Hawkeye shot back, sitting down; studying the small teddy's plastic eyes, "I just-- don't know what to do."

"I know how you feel Hawk," Henry attempted to console, "But sooner or later you're going to be found. They're looking for you right now."

"Who?" Hawkeye looked up; the blood sticking his eyelashes together.

"Your friends," Henry stated simply.

"BJ," Hawkeye knew exactly who it was, "Ever since he came he's always been there for me."

"And he still will be," Henry confirmed, "He's willing to kill himself trying to find you. And he doesn't even know if you're alive."

"So you think…" Hawkeye spoke slowly, "That I should choose to live?"

"You have to think it over," Henry forced the urgency out of his voice, "You don't know what will happen either way. Weather you choose to live or die, you'll have to live with that decision. There's someone here for you if you stay, and there'll be someone there for you if you go. But you have to decide before fate decides for you."

"Ok," Hawkeye nodded slowly and stood up, "I know what I'm going to do."

…

BJ stumbled through the debris strewn road. Though it could hardly be called a road. A road would be something someone could drive a vehicle through. This place was just like the war movies BJ remembered watching as he grew up-- where there was more hurt and pain then smiles and laughter. And really, what did he expect? This was supposed to be a 'police action', but the only action the police were seeing was that back in the states. Not here. Not where the real action was. The war.

"I'll find you Hawk," BJ vowed as he stumbled along, "I'll bring you back. I promise I'll bring you back."

Through some harsh talking, BJ had managed to convince Major Dream to give him the area that the dog-tags were found. And now he stood in the same general area. It scared him because BJ had already found three bodies of soldiers that had yet to be found; all dead. Fear washed through him that the next body he'd turn over would be Hawkeye's.

"What's that?" BJ wondered aloud, seeing something green sticking out from under a large piece of flat metal.

Moving in slow motion, the Captain walked over. Hands trembling, he moved the debris away and turned the body over. To look into the eyes of Captain Benjamin Franklin Pierce.

_To Be Continued..._

--------

_A/N: Not bad huh? Haha-- I of course, **had** to leave you on a nice cliffhanger! It just wouldn't be me if I didn't. Ok, so I was thinking. Many of you are 'varied' readers, and read plenty of different things. So I thought that maybe I should tell you all what other fanfiction I write. Have any of you ever heard of the show 'Supernatual'? My favorite show right now! I love writing fanfics for that show (man... it's just like Simon & Simon... haha... execpt these guys are hotter). Anyways. If any of you are interested in reading some of those stories, they're under the name of 'Beautiful Ally' on here. Well... you've read, now review! ThAnKs! _


	8. Chapter Eight

_Disclaimer: How many people on here have been sued because they don't say that these people aren't theirs? _

_A/N: Oh God... it's finally done... Haha, yeah. This chapter took a long time to get out because of a reason that, for once, is not entirely my fault. Yay! My computer decided to go into hibernation for the summer (aka it crashed), and not only did I loose what I had started of this chapter, but also the internet and so forth. Yaddy-yadda, we all know the story of the broken computer. On with the good stuff!_

_This is the last chapter to this story; the one of which I started on July 28th, 2004; almost two years ago! It's a good story (man... I got 81 reviews for this thing so far!). But, as always, wait to judge until you read this last chapter. Which, although may not be the best chapter in the entire world, is half decent. So... Read and review! ThAnKs! _

"Oh God no," BJ's voice gasped and caught in his throat.

The body was so still and lifeless. BJ became scared to move or breath in fear that the moment would pass. The moment that hung in the air when his best friend lay in front of him with the slim, unsure possibility that he may still be alive.

"Please Hawk," BJ prayed as he moved a shaking, dirty hand down towards his neck.

BJ's own heart skipped a beat as he found the pale, almost grey skin was warm to the touch. But still no heart beat pulsed under his fingers and mere seconds seemed to take hours to pass.

"Come on, please," select tears filled up and rolled down BJ's flushed cheeks, "Please don't do this Hawk. Don't do this to me. Don't do this to everyone that loves you. Don't… don't leave us. Please…"

One beat.

Not even BJ expected himself to jump in surprise and excitement as suddenly he fumbled to move everything away from the doctor. One beat would work for him, and even though he didn't know how hurt Hawkeye was, a smile spread across his face.

"Hawk," BJ spoke loudly after clearing the things away, "Hawk, it's BJ. Can you hear me?"

BJ turned his head sideways and leaned in close to Hawkeye's face. It took only one true moment for him to feel the shallow breathing.

"That's good, that's good," BJ spoke encouragingly, his head turning viciously around in a vein attempt to spot anyone, "Keep breathing. Everything will be ok. I promise."

No one was in sight and BJ knew then that he'd have to help Hawkeye before the war found them. Margaret had taken the jeep back, and consequently all of their supplies. He'd have to make do.

It took only a few moments to see that the most threatening and gut wrenching injury was a large, oozing gash to the side of his head. A broken arm seemed to scream out for attention as well as a 'new' elbow was attached to him somewhere between his forearm and wrist. A few cuts and bruises later, BJ had done all he could until Hawkeye himself told him where and how bad it hurt.

"Hawkeye--" BJ patted Hawkeye's cheek, "Hawk buddy, you gotta wake up now."

No answer.

"Hawk wake up," BJ spoke louder.

No answer came, and BJ struggled to think of a way to wake his friend up, or even get some sort of response. Glancing around in the debris, it took just a second before BJ found a stray nail. He picked it up, and wincing at the upcoming task, stuck the dirty and rusted nail in his mouth. Forcing back the gags which threatened him, BJ attempted to clean off the nail as much as possible in his mouth. Pulling it out, he saw a significant lesser amount of dirt.

"Last thing I need is for you to die from blood poisoning," BJ mumbled spitting on the ground to get the lasting taste out of his mouth.

Taking a deep, apologetic sigh, he pulled up Hawkeye's good arm, and placed the nail gently down on the skin.

"Sorry about this Hawk, but it's the only way," BJ mumbled and pressed the nail in until a small trickle of blood came up.

Slowly he ran it up the arm; a nice size cut marking it's path down the skin. He'd only gotten an inch before a loud moan escaped from Hawkeye's mouth and his eyebrows furrowed up in pain.

"_Hawkeye_," BJ suddenly cried out, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Hawkeye mumbled but stayed unconscious.

"Hawk, don't make me do that again," BJ threatened.

BJ studied the face of Hawkeye, and though the pained look stayed, there was no lasting awareness. Not wanting to use the nail anymore, BJ found himself almost smiling at a way to wake his stubborn friend. Wiping his hands on his shirt, BJ reached out a hand towards the badly broken arm. Part of the bone stuck out at an old angle like a splinter in the skin.

It wouldn't take much to cause the same, if not more, pain than the nail did. BJ was right on that fact as all he did was merely touch the protruding, blood covered bone and Hawkeye's whole body twitched. Slowly Hawkeye's swollen and bruised eyes opened, and BJ grinned triumphantly.

"Remind me to… smack… you later--" Hawkeye's muffled, strained voice rung out.

BJ laughed and leaned back; his head turned towards the sky, and tears freely coming down his face.

"No problem," he laughed, "Oh God, you can do anything you want as long as you don't do this again."

"What?" Hawkeye breathed.

"Scare the crap out of me," BJ smiled down at Hawkeye now.

Hawkeye forced a smile to his lips, "That could be… messy."

BJ grinned widely, "Can you move?"

"Move what?" Hawkeye groaned; everything hurt so much.

"Anything," BJ responded bluntly.

Taking a deep breath to ease the pain in his arm, Hawkeye leaned his good arm against the ground and slowly hoisted himself to a sitting position; groaning painfully the whole time.

"Don't push yourself," BJ scolded, "If you can't move, that's ok. I can get someone."

"No, I'm good," Hawkeye shook his head stubbornly while trying to get more comfortable on the debris strewn ground.

A loud, ominous explosion echoed off in the distance, and suddenly BJ was reminded that they were, in fact, sitting in the middle of a war. He knew at that point that either he'd have to run and try to get help or try to get them both to safety.

"Hawk we have to do one of two things," BJ attempted to explain it all, "Either I can go and try to get some help, and bring it back here, or we both are going to go and get somewhere where we aren't in front row seats to the war."

"Do you honestly think you'd leave me alone?" Hawkeye smiled.

BJ pondered this a moment, "Good point. Think you can stand ok?"

"There's one way to find out," Hawkeye mumbled, reaching out a bloodied hand to BJ; who'd quickly stood to his feet.

BJ braced himself for a loud cry of pain from his friend has he pulled firmly on the extended hand. He found himself sighing with relief when no such sound came out, but on the contrary, Hawkeye seemed to be able to balance on his own two feet.

"You ok to walk?" BJ questioned.

"Give me a minute," Hawkeye panted in pain; holding onto BJ's arm for support as he felt his stomach flip harshly inside him.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, BJ had slowly and steadily worked Hawkeye out of the rubble someone once called a home, and onto the gravel someone once called a road. It would be a long, painful walk back.

…

"Time?" Colonel Potter asked Klinger as they stood outside of the mess tent.

"Umm," Klinger lifted the frill on the cuff of his dress to glance at his watch, "Just before… err---"

"What is it this time Klinger?" Colonel Potter sighed dramatically.

"Uhh Sir, what comes after seven?" Klinger pondered.

"Twenty hundred?" Colonel Potter prompted.

"Yes," Klinger looked back up at his commanding officer, "It's just before twenty hundred hour Sir."

Colonel Potter sighed; dreading the inevitable coming of casualties, "Have they got everyone to the new OR tent?"

"Yes," Klinger nodded.

"Alright," Colonel Potter took off his hat and ran his hand through his thinning grey hair before replacing it half heartily on his head, "I want to talk to Major's Winchester and Houlihan and Radar."

No words were spoken as Klinger walked off down the dusty 4077 path. Colonel Potter knew he had to send someone out to find BJ, and at the same time hoped that Radar would know when the casualties were due there. It took a moment for the three to arrive in front of him.

"Radar--"

"The casualties are due here within the next hour," Radar quickly spoke, staring down at a clipboard in his hands.

A small smile cracked at the corner of Colonel Potter's lips, "Thank you Radar. Margaret and Charles, I'm afraid Hunnicut is still missing right now. We have to figure out a way to get his kester back here."

"I'm sorry," Margaret spoke quietly.

Charles placed a hand on her shoulder, "It's not your fault."

"It is," select tears rolled down Margaret's cheeks, "Everything. If I had only helped Hawkeye find a cure then he wouldn't have left. And then I left BJ alone…"

Colonel Potter was about to respond to this when a loud burst of noise came from the other side of the compound. With a quick, confused gasp, the four of them rushed across the familiar grounds.

"It's BJ!" someone cried from inside the circle of people, "And _Hawkeye!_"

These last words barely registered, and Colonel Potter found himself halting in his tracks.

"Did--" Margaret stumbled over her words, "Did they say Hawkeye?"

"Colonel!" BJ's voice boomed out as he pushed his way through the people, "Margaret!"

"Sir it _is_ BJ!" Radar cried out, running around the halted officers and towards BJ; who was supporting Hawkeye by one arm, "And Hawkeye!"

"_Oh my God!_" Margaret burst out into tears, grabbing onto Charles and burying her face into his shirt.

Charles held onto her tight, his own eyes wide as he could only stare. Colonel Potter on the other hand immediately had a huge smile on his face as he took a bounding leap towards the stumbling doctors.

"Hunnicut," Colonel Potter's voice cracked, "Pierce."

BJ was smiling with tears coming freely down his dirty face, "Colonel, take him to the OR. He needs some fixing up."

"B--" Colonel Potter started but was quickly interrupted.

"Beej, what about you?" it was Hawkeye who spoke, and suddenly everyone standing around them was silent.

"I'll be fine," BJ looked at his friend, "Go with Potter, I'll be there in a minute."

Fore BJ had seen Margaret burst into tears and collapse onto Charles. Slowly he walked over to the two majors; ignoring the suddenly loud talking surrounding him.

"Beat it Charlie," BJ smiled at Charles.

"If you don't mind--" Charles began, taken aback.

"Go help Potter," BJ supplied more professionally, "Hawk's got a bad broken arm and a laceration on his head. A fever started about two hours ago, so I'm thinking an infection is starting somewhere."

"Alright," Charles obliged and hesitantly walked off.

"BJ," Margaret's voice quivered out a moment later, "BJ, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you or stay with you."

"Aww, we got used to that from you with Ferret Face," BJ joked.

Margaret laughed softly, "And Pierce; will he be ok?"

BJ sighed; clearly relieved, "I think so. Nothing seems too bad. His head was kind of worrying, but Hawk will probably just drink that off."

"He will not!" Margaret suddenly cried out, appalled.

"Try and stop him," BJ grinned.

"Watch me buster," Margaret stated and walked off towards the OR tent, bellowing Hawkeye's name at the top of her lungs.

BJ smiled to himself; everything really was going to be ok.

…

"How are you feeling?" BJ questioned from his reclined position on his cot; a hand drawn picture from Erin in his hands.

"Oh fine," Hawkeye nodded from his own bed.

"Ready to talk about what happened yet?" BJ asked sitting up now, and abandoning the picture.

"What do you mean?" Hawkeye attempted, unsuccessfully to act innocent.

"What happened?" BJ asked, and after a moment of silence elaborated, "Hawk, one minute I fall asleep with you asleep in your cot in the tent, and the next thing I know you're on a casualty list! Something must have happened."

Hawkeye remembered what had happened; and knew he'd never forget. The question was whether to tell BJ or not. He'd been Hawkeye's best friend since Trapper left, and the last thing, he knew, BJ wanted to think was that he was completely insane. That was Sidney's job.

"Beej," Hawkeye thought his words over carefully, "Do you ever think about what you'd do if you had the choice to live or die?"

BJ gave a small laugh, "You sure you're feeling ok there Hawk?"

"I'm serious," Hawkeye insisted, "Lets say that you got hurt. And had the choice whether to choose to live or die. What would you choose?"

"That's pretty simple," BJ reluctantly played along, "I have a wife and kids. I'd want to live to be here for them."

"But what about your Mom?" Hawkeye pressed, "She died last winter right?" silently BJ nodded, "Well, wouldn't you want to be with her?"

BJ thought about this a moment before replying, "Wherever Mom is, I know she'll always be waiting for me. She'll always be there. But Peg, and Erin, they're here right now. I need them more than they need me right now."

"That's good," Hawkeye nodded, "Took me a hell of a lot longer to figure something like that out."

"What's that?" BJ furrowed his eyebrows as he picked back up his daughters masterpiece; dreaming of the day when he'd see the artist again.

"Nothing," Hawkeye smiled and laid down on the cot; staring at the canvas ceiling.

BJ had worded it perfectly. Though, Hawkeye grudgingly realized, BJ had taken far less time to figure it out. It wasn't because of all of his friends and family needing him and caring for him that Hawkeye had choose to live. On the contrary, it was because he needed them even more.

The End.

_A/N: (sob, sob)... that's all folks. That was the end of this story. Did you like it? Are you completely and thouroughly pissed off at me for taking my time on this thing? Hey, give me this at least; after everything that's happened in the past two years; at least I've finished the story! I hope you all will still review this last chapter! If I get to 100 reviews, I'll do another story (haha-- the odds of that happening are... well... slim to nill I'll bet). Either way, thanks for sticking around, and let me know what you thought of a) this chapter and b) the story! You've read, now review! ThAnKs! _


End file.
